


Why I Borrow Your Lipstick So Often

by chromyrose



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Cisswap, Dress Up, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Genderbending, Hair, Rule 63
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-11
Updated: 2016-04-11
Packaged: 2018-06-01 13:30:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6521740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chromyrose/pseuds/chromyrose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kuroo has the perfect costume in mind for Kenma to wear to a costume party. Kenma is uncertain and unenthusiastic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Why I Borrow Your Lipstick So Often

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ethereally](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ethereally/gifts).



> To ethereally: 
> 
> I really hope this is something you enjoy! I was excited about the prospect of writing some femslash and cisswap fic, but this is my first time writing these characters, so it was a bit challenging. 
> 
> Title is from "Jenny" by Studio Killers

When Kenma was in middle school, the hot topic among her classmates was high school parties. Loud music, dubious drinks, lascivious dancing, and _boys_ – it got bad enough that their homeroom teacher and the principal teamed up to force the class to sit through a lecture about the dangers of under-aged drinking. Kenma herself was grateful for the lecture; in the back of the classroom, she was able to get a nap in undetected while the teachers worried about the girls who were more outspoken, the ones who hitched their skirts up higher, rolling their stockings down lower. She wasn't worried about high school much, and least of all the parties: the only parties Kenma planned on going to were ones hosted on the Playstation Network.

And then Kenma actually got to high school, was drafted to the volleyball team by the world's worst best friend, and met Kai Nobuyuki. At first Nobuyuki-chan appeared to be a lot like Kenma: quiet and contemplative, preferring to let others bask in the limelight while she floated under the radar. But Nobuyuki had a secret passion for party planning that blindsided Kenma as a first-year, and continued to blindside her more than a year after they met. 

“A... costume party.” She echoed dolefully, looking over the screen of her phone to give Kuroo an impassive stare. Kuroo, who had made herself comfortable on Kenma's bed, shrugged and lifted her eyebrows. 

“No,” Kenma said simply. She turned back to the game on her phone, assuming the matter done. She wasn't going to a volleyball team costume party. Nothing Kuroo could do or say would change her mind. 

“And here I was thinking you'd be happy for the opportunity to cosplay,” Kuroo sighed, leaning back on Kenma's pillow. It was sure to smell of her body spray: pine trees, because men's scents were cheaper than women's. Kenma tried not to think about how that would be a comfort when she was headed to bed. 

“I don't cosplay,” Kenma huffed, kicking her leg off of her seat and poking Kuroo's hip with her toes. Kuroo knew that Kenma didn't cosplay, that she'd rather devote the time spent on that hobby playing more games, but she brought it up so often anyways that Kenma was starting to wonder if maybe Kuroo _wanted_ her to cosplay. 

“Right, right. Hm, well, if you don't have a costume idea, you should let me pick yours.” 

“Why would I let you do that?” Kenma said plainly, a little scowl on her face. “You're a sis-con. I wouldn't trust you not to make me look twelve.” 

“Sis-con? Why, I never!” 

Kenma rolled her eyes at Kuroo's theatrics, and Kuroo herself started grinning. “I wasn't going to make you look twelve. And if I _did_ put you in a skirt, it would be for your own good. Your legs are so bright they can be used to direct plane traffic. But I'm a thoughtful person, so I'm not gonna do that, either.” 

Kenma scoffed a little at Kuroo's hubris. “Well, then, what is your idea?” 

“My idea,” Kuroo drawled. “Is that you have between now and the day of the party to guess my idea. And if you don't guess it, then you have to go with me, and wear what I've picked.”

Kenma considered this, looking up from her phone. “How will I know you're not just changing it if I guess right?” 

Kuroo sat up on the bed, and reached past Kenma to grab a notepad and pen from her desk. She scribbled someone down onto the top sheet of paper, then neatly tore it off and folded it up. Kuroo took Kenma's hands and pressed the paper into her palms with a winning smile.

“I trust you not to look at it. But if you think I'm lying, you can check this.” 

Kenma looked down at her closed fist, felt the paper inside, and sighed; somehow she'd gotten herself roped into one of Kuroo's games. 

“...Is it a cosplay?” She asked a bit warily. Kuroo laughed, and elegantly rolled off of Kenma's bed. She smoothed a hand through Kenma's slick, long hair, and grinned. 

“Nope. See you tomorrow, Kenma!” 

–

“You didn't borrow one of Bokuto's uniforms or something, did you?” 

“No owls!” 

–

“Is it lolita fashion? Harajuku?” 

“No, and no.” 

–

“It had better not be a maid dress.”

“I wouldn't make you dress like that in front of the team,” Kuroo scoffed. “But if it was just us...” 

–

“You've been quiet today, Kenma. Do you have any new guesses?” 

Kenma groaned and glared at Kuroo over her shoulder, much to Kuroo's amusement.

–

The afternoon of the party, Kenma had made herself a blanket cocoon with a box of crackers and her Nintendo DS. She realized that Kuroo was undoubtedly going to come in to collect on their deal, but she wasn't planning on making it easy for her. So, when she heard the front door open downstairs, and her mother and Kuroo get into casual conversation, Kenma steeled herself for a battle. 

“Oho? What a grumpy cutie,” Kuroo drawled as she came into Kenma's room, pulling the door shut behind her. She was holding a large backpack in her hand, probably full with both of their costumes, since Kuroo wasn't dressed, either. “Any guesses today, Kenma- _chan_?” 

Kenma ignored her. Kuroo wasn't deterred at all, apparently, because she put her bag down and climbed onto the bed to straddle her. 

“Ken-maaaa,” she whined, leaning in to rub her nose against Kenma's cheek. The flippancy of the intimate touch made Kenma flinch and start swatting Kuroo away. Kuroo laughed and sat down on the bed by Kenma's feet. 

“We had a deal. And, not to brag, but I really think you might like this idea.” 

Kuroo started idily kicking her feet where she sat, the picture of patience. But her stare was unnerving to Kenma, too hard to ignore, and her curiosity and irritation eventually won out. 

“...What is it?” 

Kuroo smirked like a cat with prey at hand. “Don't you still have the paper? Go check.” 

Kenma sat in bed for another minute, waiting for Kuroo to stop teasing and just tell her; when all she got was a pleasant gaze in return, she sighed and kicked her way out of her covers to grab the scrap of folded paper from the desk.

_Kenma dresses as Tetsurou, Tetsurou dresses as Kenma._

Before she looked up from the paper, Kenma heard the sound of a zipper being pulled open. When she looked up, Kuroo was waving around a pack of vibrant blonde hair extensions.

“Help me put these in? I got black temporary dye for you, and an industrial-sized bottle of hairgel, since you don't have the time to perfect my look naturally.” 

Kenma was torn between wanting to glare endlessly... and being endeared by the idea. More endeared than she'd wanted to admit, at any rate. She shifted from foot to foot as she considered the offer, but knew that she wasn't going to say no. With a sigh, Kenma went back over to the bed and accepted the clip in strands. 

“Now you're making me brush your bedhead,” she complained by Kuroo's ear, running her fingers through the birds' nest on her best friend's head. Kuroo had had the same messy hair since they were toddlers, but Kenma knew from experience that it was so much softer than it looked, plush and well-maintained. Getting it to lie flat might be a challenge, but it was almost worth it for the excuse to touch Kuroo's hair so much. 

“What else did you bring, besides hair?” Kenma wondered; given they spent most of their time in school uniforms or volleyball clothes, it wasn't as if they had distinct styles. 

“I thought you might wear one of my muscle tees, and a bandeau? Don't make a face, it's a costume,” Kuroo added before she even turned around to see Kenma's scowl. “You'll look really cute, too. You have good boobs for that style.” 

Kenma's boobs were larger than Kuroo's, and it would probably make up for the baggy way Kuroo's shirt would lay on her body. But she wasn't sure she liked the idea that Kuroo had thought about her boobs in her shirt. 

Still, a deal was a deal. It could have been much worse, especially if Bokuto had been involved.

“And you?” Kenma finished the left side of Kuroo's head, and inspected her handiwork; Kuroo's face was too long to properly pass for Kenma, ever, and the fake hair was a little too shiny, but the point got across pretty well. She put her hand under Kuroo's chin and turned her head to face the other wall. Kuroo's exhale was a little shuddery; another thing Kenma didn't want to think about. 

“At first I thought maybe I could borrow your oversized lavender sweater? But then I realized it probably wasn't fair to impose when I said I'd get our costumes together, so I went and got one that would be oversized on me. We can wear them together some other time and be twins.” 

Kenma playfully slapped the grin off of Kuroo's cheek, and sighed. “You're so troublesome.” 

“But you love it.” 

Kenma didn't reply. She finished clipping the extensions into Kuroo's hair, and gently brushed them out with her fingers, trying to make them meld with Kuroo's own black hair. The result was a little strange to Kenma, a little too much like looking in a funhouse mirror, but that probably meant the rest of the team would enjoy it. 

She was much less enthusiastic when Kuroo pulled out the can of black hair spray, and dragged her into her bathroom. She took her own shirt off after Kuroo threatened to do it for her, and stood with her back to Kuroo in a worn sports bra and pajama pants. 

Kuroo started brushing and spraying her hair wordlessly, but broke the silence sooner than Kenma would have liked. 

“Does this bother you that much? Being undressed in front of me, I mean. We do this all the time in the locker room.” 

“This isn't a locker room,” Kenma responded after a moment's pause. 

“We grew up together.” 

Kenma wasn't really sure what she could say to that, that wouldn't reveal more than she was ready to let Kuroo know. Kuroo squirted hairgel into her palms, started to spike Kenma's hair so it would flop over her eye. 

“Why did you want to dress up as me?” Kenma asked, the question that had been on her mind since the start of the afternoon. Anything to break that awkward silence she created. 

Kuroo didn't answer right away; when Kenma snuck a peek at the mirror, she saw the way the tip of her tongue was poked out in concentration as she did something to the hair on the back of Kenma's head. Kuroo met her gaze in the mirror, and smiled. 

“People dress up as the things they like, right?” 

Realization built up slowly inside of Kenma, a warmth that started in her fingers and toes and spread through her veins to pool in her belly. She watched her own gaze in the mirror go wide-eyed. 

“Like, or...” 

“Like-like.” Kuroo laughed, pulling Kenma by the hair until she could kiss her cheek. “I want you to wear my _clothes_ , Kenma. If that isn't possessiveness, what is?” 

Kenma hesitated as she considered this, then slipped out of Kuroo's gentle hold and turned around to face her. Again it struck her how _weird_ it was for Kuroo to look like her, but that feeling was tempered a bit knowing it was Kuroo's idea of celebrating her. Kenma put her small hands on either side of Kuroo's face and tugged her down, satisfied when their lips brushed in a gentle kiss. 

“You can borrow my sweater, if you still want...” 

Kuroo's lips were quavering, and she smothered her laugh against Kenma's mouth. 

 

–--

Bonus: 

Kenma hadn't noticed Kuroo slipping her 3DS into her pocket before they left her house, but when they got to the party, Kuroo sat on the couch, pulled her knees up to her chest, and started playing. And playing. And playing. 

“I'm starting to think you did this to insult me,” Kenma complained, prodding Kuroo with the edge of her cup. “Cut it out.” 

Kuroo looked up from the device slowly, and took her time blinking her eyes the way a cat would. Her gaze seemed hazy and unfocused, and Kenma scowled. 

“I don't do that.” 

“Yes, you do.” Kuroo muttered, turning back to the game in hand. As good of an actor as she was, though, Kenma could see her lips obviously twitching. 

“No I don't.” 

“You do.” 

“I don't.” 

“Yes.” 

“No.” 

Yaku sighed, and handed Kai a five-hundred yen note.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you all enjoyed! Let me know what you think with a comment or kudos, it would be really appreciated!
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/haikyuutiie) | [tumblr](http://zahhaked.tumblr.com)


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